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Rock, Arizona—On Friday, June 27, the Navajo Nation made an historic
pact with the U.S. Department of of Health and Human Services to execute
a direct funding agreement through the Title IV-E program under the
Social Security Act that will reimburse the tribe and its child welfare
agencies for federally eligible foster care, adoptions and
guardianships.
The reimbursements cover maintenance, including room and board;
administration, including determination of Title IV-E eligibility,
placement of the child, development of a case plan, and other
administrative duties under the act; and short- and long-term training
for the tribe, including child welfare agencies and court personnel.
Title IV-E reimbursements are open-ended and are not a grant, according
to the DHHS.
The Navajo Nation tribal jurisdiction covers three states: New
Mexico, Arizona and Utah, but if a child was placed into state care,
each of those states made the eligibility determination and placed the
child. Meanwhile, the tribe’s social workers had to plead with each of
the three states to return the child to the Navajo jurisdiction to be
placed with one of its licensed foster homes. Additionally, the tribe
only received funding from the state of New Mexico. Arizona and Utah did
not provide Title IV-E reimbursements to the tribe.
Through this agreement with the U.S. Administration for Children and
Families, however, the Navajo Nation will now make its own eligibility
determinations and home placements within its jurisdictional borders in
all three states and receive federal funding to assist the foster
families to help in taking care of its own children. In qualifying for
this direct funding agreement, the Navajo Nation is setting a national
precedent for other tribes to follow.
RELATED: 5 Sioux Tribes Applied to Fund Their Own Foster Care Programs
“The Title IV-E is a model program for other Indian tribes throughout
the United States,” said Sharon Begay-McCabe, director of the Navajo
Nation Division of Social Services. “Because tribes have an input on how
their program will be administered and [how to] incorporate their
tribal culture into the plan. Native Americans, including Navajo,
believe that children should be raised within their immediate family or
within their Indian tribe. The family bond Navajo is their matrilineal
clan system and families can exercise these traditional customs by
keeping the children in kinship and permanent placement. Our children
are the future leaders of our tribes and we must continue to hold them
sacredly and keep them safe.”
Begay-McCabe, said that the tribe had been working since 2011 to
qualify for the federal funding with a $300,000 planning grant.
According to tribal officials, Title IV-E is an annual appropriation
with specific eligibility requirements and fixed allowable costs for
uses of funds. In fiscal year 2010, the direct funding provision was
made available to Indian nations, tribal organizations and tribal
consortia with approved plans to operate the program. The Navajo Nation
is the first tribe to qualify for the funding.
“The Navajo Division of Social Services requested a one year
extension and used its own resources to complete the Title IV-E plan,
including the assistance from the Casey Family Foundation,” said
Begay-McCabe. “Once the Title IV-E plan was submitted for approval, it
took additional time to finally obtain the approval from DHS.”
In addition to the Casey Family Foundation, the tribe also partnered
with the Navajo Nation Judicial Branch, Division of Public Safety,
Office of the Chief Prosecutor, Office of the Chief Public Defender,
Department of Dine’ Education, Division of Health and the Office of the
President and Vice President in getting the direct funding agreement
approval.
“The Navajo Division of Social Services is the first tribal program
in the country to administer the Title IV-E program,” said Navajo Nation
President Ben Shelly. “I commend Sharon McCabe and her staff for making
this possible. Our kids are important and we must do everything we can
to protect them.”
Tribal officials said the program is set to go into effect on October
1, 2014. Until that time, the tribe’s Department of Family Services
will begin trainings, which will include the Navajo Nation Courts and
other tribal programs that will cover eligibility requirements for the
children and families receiving Title IV-E and the requirements of
language in the courts’ rulings.
Currently, the tribe only receives funding for six children, but the
new program could impact up to 200 Navajo children currently in foster
care, said Begay-McCabe.
“Title IV-E enhances tribal sovereignty, [because] the Navajo Nation
will receive direct funding from the federal government,” said
Begay-McCabe “Before, the Division had to work with the three states -
Arizona, New Mexico and Utah - individually to receive Title IV-E. The
Division had to follow the process of eligibility, which differs in each
state and was not culturally sensitive. Now, the Division will
administer the whole Title IV-E program for the tribe, [which] will keep
our children safe, provide permanency, and incorporates Navajo culture
that will enhance our tribal sovereignty.”

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What our Nations are up against!

To Veronica Brown

Veronica, we adult adoptees are thinking of you today and every day. We will be here when you need us. Your journey in the adopted life has begun, nothing can revoke that now, the damage cannot be undone. Be courageous, you have what no adoptee before you has had; a strong group of adult adoptees who know your story, who are behind you and will always be so.

TWO WORLDS Book 1 (second edition)

Two Worlds anthology (Vol. 1)

“…sometimes shocking, often an emotional read…this book is for individuals interested in the culture and history of the Native American Indian, but also on the reading lists of universities offering ethnic/culture/Native studies.”

“Well-researched and obviously a subject close to the heart of the authors/compilers, I found the extent of what can only be described as ‘child-snatching’ from the Native Americans quite staggering. It’s not something I was aware of before…”

“The individual pieces are open and honest and give a good insight into the turmoil of dislocation from family and tribe… I think it does have value and a story to tell. I was affected by the stories I read, and amazed by the facts presented…. because it is saying something new, interesting and often astonishing.”

Survivors, write your stories. Write your parents stories. Write the elders stories. Do not be swayed by the colonizers to keep quiet. Tribal Nations have their own way of keeping stories alive.... Trace

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Good words

I agree with you on the caring of “orphans” – true orphans, not “paper orphans” as Kathryn Joyce describes in her book, The Child Catchers. The most important thing to remember, however, is that the orphan’s original identity and family connection and heritage must remain intact and available to him or her forever. This business of adoption – and I do mean the multi-billion-dollar, unregulated business of adoption – of wiping out the child’s original identity, falsifying birth records with the adopters’ names, altering facts such as place of birth, severing familial kinship, must stop … Immediately. And the outrageous injustices foisted upon adoptees and their families for the past 100 years must be addressed and righted. We are faced today with six to seven million people who were basically legally kidnapped, sold to the highest bidder, their identities falsified, and placed in a lifelong, imposed witness protection program for which there is no legal recourse. Then told by church officials, agency and government functionaries that they have no right to know who they are, to do genealogy or learn about important family medical history, or know the identity of or associate with blood relatives. This is how the Judeo-Christian society has interpreted “caring for orphans”, for it’s own selfish interests and greed. Starting with Georgia Tann, the woman charged with kidnapping and selling 5,000 children, most of whom were given to the rich and powerful who then colluded with her to “seal” adoptions and cover their nefarious activities (see, for example, Gov. Herbert Lehman, NY, 1935).

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adoptees take back adoption narrative and reject propaganda

Lost Birds on Al Jazeera Fault Lines

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Canada's Residential Schools

The religious organizations that operated the schools — the Anglican Church of Canada, Presbyterian Church in Canada, United Church of Canada, Jesuits of English Canada and some Catholic groups — in 2015 expressed regret for the “well-documented” abuses. The Catholic Church has never offered an official apology, something that Trudeau and others have repeatedly called for.

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Karen Vigneault (1958-2019)

https://www.c-span.org/video/?326149-1/a-generation-removed

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ADOPTION TRUTH

As the single largest unregulated industry in the United States, adoption is viewed as a benevolent action that results in the formation of “forever families.” The truth is that it is a very lucrative business with a known sales pitch. With profits last estimated at over $1.44 billion dollars a year, mothers who consider adoption for their babies need to be very aware that all of this promotion clouds the facts and only though independent research can they get an accurate account of what life might be like for both them and their child after signing the adoption paperwork.

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Original Birth Certificate Map in the USA

Navajo Times article 2014

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